Journal of Counseling Psychology

Running head: RACIAL IDENTITY
Racial Identity
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

RACIAL IDENTITY
1
Introduction
An individual of the society has a variety of identities according to which they are
recognized by the other individuals of the community. For instance, an individual is either
recognized by his familial ties, by his or her occupation or by other kinds of social recognition
such as their culture or ethnicity (Goldberg). The purpose of this paper is to understand the issue
of racial identity. To this extent, a personal reflection has been analyzed in order to effectively
examine how the issue of personal identity can be politicized.
Personal Reflection
I belong to the ‘black’ etic population living within the United States of America. I attend
a private college within my community. Along with me, the other members of my family also
attend the same college. This identification of myself has posed several challenges within my
college community.
The cultural pressure that is associated with my ‘black’ identity is that I am often
perceived to be a subservient individual of the society by the other ‘white’ colored individuals.
They think of me as a racially inferior person who needs to be dominated. Furthermore, a social
pressure is also associated with the fact that my family members also attend my college. This has
imposed a prejudice against me, conflicting with my own personal values and expectations. For
instance, my personally believe that everyone in the society should have the right to education
(Ladson-Billings and Tate, p. 15). However, this expectation of upholding my personal value has
been conflicted within this atmosphere.
The issue of racial identity has been politicized by the media. They are of the idea that
racial discrimination is a social evil and therefore, there is a need to mitigate its prevalence.

RACIAL IDENTITY
2
However, in the context of the surrounding institutions within the United States, my racial
identity of belonging to the ‘black’ ethnic population has been affected since the country has a
long history of racial discrimination and segregation (Seol, p. 294). Furthermore, the fact that I
attend the same college as the other members of my family, one among whom is my own father,
has also caused a challenge. In the United States of America, this is frowned upon as the ‘black’
ethnic population are considered to be people who are mainly uneducated in their orientation.
This poses a challenge when they try to attain education within a ‘white’ community, that also,
being accompanied by their own family members (Williams).
One of the basic assumptions that is made with regards to my identity is that the ‘black’
ethnic population is seen to be primarily illiterate and unsophisticated. In regards to this, the
assumption that I hold towards the ‘white’ population is that they are led by conservative
thinking and largely influenced by their colonial thought process.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be observed that the issue of racial identity has a significant impact
on the kid of life led by the people of the society. Racial discrimination is still very much
predominant in the larger community where people are treated differentially in accordance with
their skin color. In the personal reflection it can be seen that such racial discrimination occupied
a political light whereby the living standard was negatively affected.